


Story Time

by Stromesquad



Series: The Kayla McLeod Stories [1]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2017-12-19
Packaged: 2019-02-17 02:40:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13067397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stromesquad/pseuds/Stromesquad
Summary: “Daddy! Daddy! Guess who came to school to read me books today,” she says as she barrels into Mikey's legs, almost knocking him over.“Slow down kiddo. Who?”Kayla let's go and looks up at Mikey, very solemn. “Nathan Bastian. Daddy. I think I'm in love.”





	Story Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LottieAnna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LottieAnna/gifts).



> For Lotts. Happy Hanukkah. Thank you for being a shining light in a very dark year. Love you so much. 
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks to Ang and Packy for fixing all my bad commas and Heather for loo king this over.

Kayla comes running out of school full speed with her backpack falling off her shoulder screaming.

“Daddy! Daddy! Guess who came to school to read me books today,” she says as she barrels into Mikey's legs, almost knocking him over. 

“Slow down kiddo. Who?”

Kayla let's go and looks up at Mikey, very solemn. “Nathan Bastian. Daddy. I think I'm in love.” 

It takes everything in Mikey not to laugh. Bastian is Kayla's favorite hockey player at any level, including her uncle Ryan. Not sorry Ryan. They go to a fair number of Binghamton Devils games every season and ever since Nate showed up 2 years ago, Kayla has been obsessed. She's going to be heartbroken when he gets called up to the NHL. Mikey doesn't really know how to prepare for that. 

“That's exciting! Was he nice?”

“He's the nicest boy I've ever met! Look at the picture he gave me!” She opens her backpack and shows him a signed photograph. 

“Wow, baby. That's really nice!”

“And he's coming back next week! Can I wear my prettiest dress and will you do my hair all nice next Tuesday? I want to look nice for Nathan!”

“You can wear whatever you want. We can even ask Grandma to help with your hair.” 

“Thank you, Daddy,” Kayla whispers, looking immensely pleased.

Look, Mikey didn't ask to be a single dad, but watching his kid smile, he wouldn't trade it for anything.

*

Monday rolls around and Mikey is picking Kayla up from school as usual. She comes outside holding someone’s hand. It's Nathan Bastian. Mikey's not sure how Kayla made this happen but he's honestly not surprised. She's charming, and manages to get her way with everyone. 

“Daddy! I want you to meet my Nathan. Nathan, this is my daddy. Say 'hi’ Daddy.”

Mikey flushes. Nathan is… very handsome… and smiling… and he’s also apparently very nice to kids, Mikey's in particular and that's just a little bit hard to deal with. He sticks out his hand. 

“Hi, I'm Mikey. Not sure how she talked you into this but I'm sorry.” 

Nathan smiles a little wider, dimples popping out and Mikey is weak. “Nate Bastian. Nice to meet you.” 

“You too. Kayla's been very excited about your school visits.” 

“We're happy to be here. Working with kids is fun. Especially ones as enthusiastic as Kayla.” Nate pats Kayla's head. 

“So… umm… How did she talk you into this?”

“She didn't, really. She just kind of took my hand and said 'Okay, Nathan. It's time for you to meet my daddy now. He's your biggest fan.’ So, I kind of just went along with it.”

Mikey sighs heavily, bends down and picks up Kayla. “What did I say about taking people's hands and dragging them places?”

“That I should ask them first.” 

“That's right. Now say you’re sorry to Nate. I'm sure he's very busy and has practice to get to or something.”

“I’m sorry. I promise to ask you next time.” 

“It’s okay, kiddo. We already had practice so I didn't have anything until dinner. Hey, why don't you guys come to a game this weekend?” 

“We usually do. Kayla's your biggest fan.”

“I'll get some tickets for you. McLeod right?”

“Yeah. Thanks. You really really don't have to do this.”

Nate smirks, “Anything for my biggest fan.” He holds out his hand and Kayla high fives him. “I'll see you guys on Saturday.” 

 

*

The thing about Nathan Bastian is that not only is he great with kids, he's also the first out player in men's pro hockey. And that's no small thing. Mikey knows how important this is, how important it will be for kids when Nate plays in the NHL. And he will. He's dominating this season, so it's a matter of when, not if. 

Mikey is bi. One of the things he was most okay with when he gave up hockey for Kayla was that he could finally stop hiding, from himself, from his family, from the world. When he was playing he didn't think he could and Nate—Nate's changing the game for kids like Mikey. Mikey's grateful for that more than he can ever say. 

So they go to the game on Saturday night. Kayla drags Mikey up to the glass for warm ups and waves frantically until Nate sees her. He skates over, waves back, and flips Kayla a puck over the glass. While she's having a minor meltdown about getting a puck from “my new friend Nathan” as she calls him, Nate winks at Mikey. 

And Mikey has an internal meltdown of his own. Is Nate flirting with him? 

 

*

The next Monday, Nate walks out of school with Kayla again. Mikey can hear her chattering about the Devils'. power play. He rolls his eyes. She may like hockey too much but Mikey can't complain. His mom says he was just the same as a kid, dragging her to every Steelheads event there was. 

Mikey walks to meet them halfway and Nate looks up from his conversation with Kayla and just grins. 

“Hey. You guys have fun on Saturday?” Nate asks. “I scored that goal just for you Kayla.” 

And he winks at Mikey again. This has to be flirting, right? Mikey's not imagining it? He doesn't really get out on many dates or meet that many people outside of work or school. And having a kid doesn't really go over well with other college kids so he doesn't get flirted with very often. 

“We had a great time, thanks.” Mikey smiles shyly. 

“You're welcome. I get like, free tickets and don't really have anyone to give them to.” Nate blushes. 

“Really?” Mikey asks. 

“Nope. No one special in my life right now.”

“Hey!” Kayla stomps her foot.

“Except for Kayla.” 

She smiles, confident. Mikey rolls his eyes.

“Seriously though, any time you guys want to come to a game, as long as family isn't here, the tickets are yours.” 

Mikey turns red. “Nate, that's really too much.”

“It's nice to know I have a fan.” He pats Kayla on the head. “So here's my number. You can use it um… any time.” And now Nate’s blushing. This is definitely, definitely flirting. 

And Mikey really, really doesn't know what to do with that so he says, “thanksgottago,” and walks away with Kayla protesting, “But Daddy, we needed to talk about penalty kill strategy,” like it was something any normal 5 year old would say.

 

*

 

He texts Nate. And then they keep texting. It's perfect. It flows easy and free. Mikey's smiling at his phone over breakfast when Kayla asks, “Is Nathan your boyfriend?”

“No. No, Kayla. He's not.”

“Are you sure? Your face gets all stupid when you talk to him.” 

Mikey sighs and rubs his hand over his face. “You, young lady, need to stop watching Hallmark movies with your grandmother.”

“That means you have to stop watching them too.”

 

*

 

Mikey takes Nate up on the offer for tickets again for their next home game weekend. It has been 2 weeks of constant texting and they missed seeing each other on Monday because Mikey had a meeting for a group project. His mom had picked Kayla up and told him Nate had looked rather disappointed not to see him. So Mikey goes to the Sunday afternoon game.

Nate skates over to wave to Kayla and mouths to Mikey, “Dinner after?” With a shy, hopefully smile on his face. Mikey nods.

He gets a text at intermission with the name of a restaurant that he knows is kid-friendly. 

Dinner is great. It's not a date but it feels like it could be. At the end, Nate asks if they can do it again. Just the 2 of them next time and Mikey says yes. Nate smiles so big it looks like it hurts his face. 

 

*

They go out again the next night. It's everything. Nate takes them to a steakhouse with a quiet booth. They split a bottle of wine that they forget to finish because they are having too much fun. Nate drives Mikey home. 

“Do you want to come in and say hi to Kayla? She should be in bed but I know she won’t be.” 

“Yeah, sure.” The wide grin is back. 

Man, he really really likes Nate and Nate likes his kid and that seems like more than Mikey should ask for out of a sort of second date but he's not going to press his luck and question it. 

Kayla is peeking out the window when they pull up. She opens the door for them and without preamble says to Nate, “Are you Daddy’s boyfriend now?” 

Nate giggles, honest to God giggles and Mikey's heart leaps. 

“Well, not yet but maybe someday I could be.” Nate is bright red. 

“Will you read me a story?” 

“If it's okay with your dad.” He looks at Mikey for confirmation. 

Mikey nods and smiles. He follows behind as Kayla takes Nate's hand and walks him to her room, picks a story and climbs into bed. 

“Nathan, you have to sit in the bed with me.” Nate climbs in next to Kayla, like it's the most normal thing in the world. 

Mikey watches from the doorway and all he can think is _it would be so easy to fall for this man_. And it's a scary thought but at the same time it's not which is maybe the scariest part of all. 

When the story is over, Nate tucks Kayla in and pats her on the head. He walks out and waits in the hall while Mikey kisses Kayla goodnight. Mikey turns off the light and closes the door to find Nate looking at him, fond and soft.

“I'm going to kiss you now.”

And all Mikey knows is that falling for Nate is going to be both the scariest and easiest thing he's ever done.

**Author's Note:**

> Mikey and Nate are both around 22 at the time of this fic. 
> 
>  
> 
> Kayla is 5. She is in kindergarten. She is just as sassy and precocious as she seems, much to the delight and terror of her teacher.
> 
>  
> 
> Mikey found out he was going to be a dad on his 17th birthday. He was going NCAA track for hockey with enough potential to go late second round draft but when he finds out his girlfriend is pregnant he said “Guess that's not happening.” He does not regret his choice. Mikey LOVES being a dad. 
> 
>  
> 
> Kayla Skypes with her mom 3 times a week. She's in med school.
> 
>  
> 
> Judi is a saint who moved to friggin Binghamton so her son could be a dad and go to school.


End file.
